Tag Archives: Lucknowi biriyani

Interestingly , In Lucknow there is nothing like Biriyani !!! Biriyani is synonymous with “Pulao”, in Luknow , this is pulao !!!! But in other parts of India , Pulao is something where rice and meat are cooked together , at the same time , in the same vessel , lacking the grandeur and glory of that of “Biriyani”. So in present days , the term “Biriyani” is being included or more specifically intruded in the culinary dictionary of Lucknow so as not to confuse the Lucknowi delicacy with that of the “Pulao” pf other regions !!!

Luknow !!! The historical city of secrets and mysteries !!! The Luknowi cuisins , though a variant of Mughlai cuisins ,are so subtle in taste but so flavorful , so refined yet so elegant . Lots of secret ingredients made the whole gharana mysterious to others . The Sub-continent owe a lot to the dastarkhan of the Nawabs , no doubt !!! My studies about Luknowi/ Awadhi cuisine found a great influence of the gharana on many cuisines of Bangladesh , may be because of the fact ,the last Nawab of Awadh , Wajed Ali Khan was being exiled in Bengal !!!!! He did not forget to bring the main chefs of his kitchen with him !!! No wonder , the Nawabs were the greatest foodie ever !!!
The main characteristics of Luknowi biriyani are ,
1. The biriyani is the pakki biriyani , that is the meat is cooked before and the stock or Yakhni is kept aside . No powdered garam masala , no mint or cilantro , no tomato . Keora or screw pinewater along with saffron is essential .

2. The rice is cooked in the Yakhni or stock with ghee .

3. The layering of meat and rice and then the pot is sealed with a flour dough and will be kept in steam , the process known as “Dumpukht” .

Here you go with Luknowi Mutton biriyani !!! Though fine quality basmati rice is supposed to be used in the recipe , I preferred our very own Kalijeera or chinigura chaal for it’s unique and distinct flavor !!! I have never found such an aromatic varieties of rice anywhere !!

6 cups of stock , prepared by the mutton
1 small stick of cinnamon , 1 small black cardamom and 1 small star anise
Salt to taste
Ghee less than half cup ( If you are using non-stick utensil , take less, just enough that the rice is well coated with the ghee and there is no extra ghee)

1. Soak rice in water . In a cheese cloth put everything mentioned for stock, except salt. Now tie up the cloth like a parcel and put it in a pot filled with 14 cups of Warm water. Put the mutton pieces don’t add salt now . Let it boil and add the salt just 5 minutes before you turn off the stove , till the mutton are three-fourths done .Reduce the stock to 8 cups. Don’t take out the masala bundle while doing so.

2. Now , the gravy part . Blend the yogurt with fried onion or bereshta . Heat ghee , fry the whole garam masala for a while .Add ginger-garlic paste and red chili powder. Add the blended yogurt and cook for a while . Add the mutton , keep cooking on a medium low flame . Now add 2 cups of stock from the prepared stock . Reserve remaining 6 cups for the rice . Check the salt , add a little bit , since the stock has the salt too .Add the potatoes chunk . Careful , the potatoes must not be fully done . Just 70 % or so otherwise it will be mashed in the biriyani while the biriyani will be on “Dam” .When the gravy reduced a bit , add the cream or milk, mace and nutmeg powder and handful of whole green chilies . There must be 1 cup of gravy in the mutton .

3. Put ghee in a pot . Drain out the water from the rice and add into the ghee . Add 6 cups of stock . Add the cinnamon stick. black cardamom , star anise . Add salt, but careful , the stock has salt too . So Adjust the salt . Cover the lid and cook on medium flame . Don’t stir. When the water is completely dried out , turn off the stove . The rice would look like 80% done.

4. Now the layering part . Take a pot , first layer with the mutton with gravy . Put some whole green chilies , alubokhara , raisins over the mutton . Layer now with the rice . Cover it with fried onion , bereshta . Add saffron , ghee , around 2 tbl spoon and sprinkle good amount of keora . Cover the lid tightly and keep it on “dum” for another 30 minutes. It is better to seal with a dough made with atta , but what I did , I put a heavy object on the lid so as to create the “Dumpakht” effect . 🙂
For “Dum” , I always follow double boiler method . Put your biriyani pot over another same sized pot filled with water . Turn on the stove on medium flame. The steam will do the wonder . Those who will put it in the oven , cover the lid tightly or wrap with double layer of aluminium foil .In a bake mode , keep it in the preheated oven for 20/ 25 minutes at 350 FH.

In the subcontinent we have so many different recipes of biriyanies ; taste, flavor , aroma , process of making varying from region to region . Some of them are ravishingly spicy , whereas some are enchantingly aromatic. All the biriyanies , depending on the method of cooking, can be classified into two major groups; “Kachchi” and “Pakki” . Kachchis are those , where raw marinated meat is used with partially cooked rice . Our very own, world famous Bangladeshi version of Kachchi biriyani , Hyderabadi biriyani belong to that group . And Pakkis are those , where meat and rice both are pre cooked and then layered . “Sindhi”, “Luknowi” are of this kind .

Today’s post is “Lucknowi Biriyani”, delightfully aromatic and mild in flavor, rather than spicy . and it is prepared following the original, authentic method. There are so many recipes on internet as to Lucknowi Biriyani , but sorry to say , neither of them come close to the original version . The basic principle of preparing this recipe is , no powdered masala , only whole masala is used and the rice is flavored with the aromatic stock of the meat used in the recipe .

The stock , prepared by the chicken 6 cups
1 small stick of cinnamon
Salt to taste
Ghee less than half cup ( If you are using non-stick utensil , take less, just enough that the rice is well coated with the ghee and there is no extra ghee)

1. Soak the rice in water for at least 1 hour. In a cheese cloth put everything mentioned for stock, except salt. Now tie up the cloth and put it in a pot filled with 12 cups of Warm water. Put the chicken pieces and add salt . Let it boil till the chicken are three-fourths done. Take out the chicken pieces and reduce the stock to 6/7 cups. Don’t take out the masala bundle while doing so.

2. In a pot marinate the three-fourths done chicken with yogurt , whole garam masalas , ginger, garlic paste, Fried onion ,sugar and salt. Heat ghee and add the chicken with marinade . Cook on medium flame for few minutes and then add the milk . Cook on medium low flame .The gravy should not be too much or too dry .Add the green chilies and keep it on dom for 5 minutes more. Take out the whole garam masalas from the gravy.

3. Put ghee in a pot . Drain out the water from the rice and add into the ghee . Add 6 cups of stock . Add the cinnamon stick. Add salt, but careful , the stock has salt too . So Adjust the salt . Cover the lid and cook on medium flame . Don’t stir. When the water is completely dried out , turn off the stove . The rice would look like 80% done.

4. Now the layering part . Take a pot , first layer with the chicken with gravy . Don’t take any extra oil from the gravy. Now layer with the rice . Put some whole green chilies , alubokhara , raisins over the rice . Layer now with the remaining rice . Cover it with fried onion , bereshta . Add saffron and sprinke some keora and biriyani scent . Cover the lid tightly and keep it on “dom” for another 30 minutes.

For “Dom” , I always follow double boiler method . Put you biriyani pot over another same sized pot filled with water . Turn on the stove on medium flame. The steam will do the wonder . Those who will put it in the oven , cover the lid tightly or wrap with double layer of aluminium foil .In a bake mode , keep it in the preheated oven for 20/ 25 minutes at 350 FH.

Serve hot with kabab and salad.

Notes:

1. Unlike other pakki biriyanis , the rice is not cooked in water and the nutrition and flavor of rice is intact for not throwing away the water . It makes the biriyani more flavorful .

2. For bereshta or fried onion , the tricks are , cut the onions as thin as possible.Heat oil on medium flame . The oil should not be too hot . Once you put the onions , lower the heat and fry until crisp and golden brown. The bereshtas get darker after taking out from the oil . So take them out from the oil , one shade lighter than the color you want.

3. If you prepare the biriyani for a larger batch , just don’t double up the ingredients . Go by adding extra half . Like if 1 tea spoon is required , take 1 and half teaspoon.

4. The stock can be preserved for other dishes as well , if you make in a large quantity . It would do wonder in pulao and korma for sure . Just put it in a closed lid bottle or container and preserve it in the fridge , if for more than 2 days then in the deep chamber